Just a Matter of Time
by KD4bra
Summary: Jinx, Ekko and Vi once shared a past together, until that terrible day... After the accident, some of them buried that past, some don't even remember, but she never forgot. Destiny will pay its debt reuniting them again in the Academy of War.
1. Her Dream

"What is taking him so long?"

17 minutes have already passed since Echo left. He said we had to wait here, that he had a new creation.

The real reason why I've been capable to stay here is just to see his face when the 'new creation' explodes, and the he'll say just like always: _'When I'm finished repairing it, it won't explode, I swear'._ But it always exploded, even if it did what it was supposed to do, there was an explosion in the process.

"I don't know, girl. Maybe he is finishing some details"

I only give a sigh as a response.

And I was gonna explode if I had to wait one more second.

"I'm going to find him!"

I got on my feet in a jump and quickly started walking to Echo's apartment.

I always thought that that building was gorgeous, despite it obviously wasn't. There were traces of vandalism in the walls, and the pipes were rusted. But compared to the place where Vi and I lived, it was really nice.

How can I explain it? Echo's family was from the 'low class', but us were the low class of the low class.

I arrived to the front door and I rang the doorbell for the 'B-4'. It was in a metal panel, with all the buttons for each apartment, labeled in 'A, B, C, and D' for each floors, from the 1st to 6th. I noticed for the first time that the building was actually a bit high.

I waited for 2 minutes before recalling that Echo said that the doorbells wasn't working almost since he ever moved.

_'Jeez, I'm an idiot'_ I complained about myself.

Then, naturally, I started yelling to the 4th floor's window:

"Echo!"

Vi startled with the noise.

"Hey! Isn't there a doorbell or something?!"

"It doesn't work." Was I even yelling at the rigth window? "**ECHO!**"

Vi, nicely (well, not _that_ nicely) punched me in the shoulder.

"Not so loud!" She whispered "You're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood!"

I was going to return her the aggression, but a 'bump' came from the window I was yelling at. Then someone opened it to look out. It was Ekko.

"Ouch... Hey, girls. Didn't told you to wait for me? I haven't quite finished yet..."

"Actually" Vi spoke "You said **exactly** the same thing about 20 minutes ago, but the one with blue hair here was impatient."

"Just a second!"

In _that_ second I realized that: the moon was going to hit midnight, we were yelling, and I was hungry, and bored.

'_Not a single extra second!_'

"Hey! Genius boy! Forget about the details and bring your butt down here!"

"I really haven't finished it, please wai-"

"If you don't come with whatever thing you're working on right now, I'm leaving."

That was his _click_.

The sounds of his clumsiness confirmed that he was making his way to the stairs. Then several metallic steps made echo in the walls.

"Why you do that?" Vi asked with rather seriousness.

"Do what?" I answered without taking my sight off of the frontal door.

"That nasty trick of 'If you don't'. You perfectly know that he'll do whatever you say. Then, why you simply use him?"

No matter that she was roughly 6 years older than Echo, she seemed really concerned about my intentions towards him.

"Oh, come on. It's just that... It is not all the time, OK? I'm just playing with him a little...

I have to admit that I felt a little guilty. But what she was implying was no secret. Almost everybody knew that Echo-

"I'm...!" He was trying to open the door "Here!"

"Just in time" I heard Vi after a final 'I'm watching you' look "So, what's the big deal?"

He put his hand on his bag, that I didn't notice he was carrying, before answering:

"This."

He gave me a kind of bluish cylindrical gun, with something inside that seemed a spiral shaped neon tube, also blue. And two tiny antennas (or that I thought) in both sides of the upper base.

Vi giggled a little before commenting:

"You're gifting her a _dildo_?" After that she only laughed harder.

I hit her with my elbow right in the stomach, paying off my debt.

I realized that Echo started to blush. Gosh, he's really 13. Wait... What am I talking about? I'm only 14! Well, I mean that he is too much innocent sometimes.

"Don't mind her, just tell what i really is."

It took him a couple of minutes to process the question.

"Oh, y-yeah. It's a... a directed electric ray generator."

"...Echo, we've already talked about this... In English, please."

"Ah? Oh, yes." He finally cut it off with the blushing "It's a ray gun."

'**IT'S A-WHAT?!**'

"Seriously?! A true ray gun?!"

"He, yeah, I knew you'd like it."

"Can I use it?!"

"It's what it was made for! There's a couple of bottles over there."

Excited, I tried to aimed to one of them and pulled the trigger. Surprisingly, I hit he bottle with the nearly too-fast-to-be-seen jolt of, well, electricity, and broke the glass. Even more excited than before, I repeated the same action with the others objectives, with success.

"This is awesome, Echo! Thank you!" Carried by the joy, I kissed him on the cheek to embrace him.

For 15 seconds I almost regret doing that, seeing the arrogant smirk of Vi over Echo's shoulder. She was pressing on my 'feelings' for Echo almost since we met him, and it was getting very old. Now I get why she is also concerned about when I 'use him'.

I carefully broke the hug to prevent future 'I told you's.

"And... It has a name?"

He was still shocked by the hug, same as Vi was still smirking on me.

'_Ugh... This is going to cost me several jokes for, minimal, one week._'

"Echo!"

"Uh?! What? Oh! Its name. Well, unless you don't mind the bunch of numbers and technical stuff... Hehe." He finished with a way too awkward giggle and an intense, reddish, blush on his cheeks.

"Well" I needed to change the mood really quick "What do you think?"

"I don't think it really matters." Vi interfered.

"I meant you" I pointed to Echo "Not you."

She just rolled her eyes almost insulted.

"I was thinking... What about: **ZAP!**"

I expected that from Vi, but even Echo put a 'seriously?' look.

"Noooo comment."

'_Yeah, whatever, I didn't even want your opinion_'.

"Well, it sounds good. It's logical, in a twisted way..." He almost whispered the last part.

Echo never had the heart to criticize me, that frequently upset me, not having the will to confront me, but sometimes, like now, that was cute.

Involuntarily I smiled at him, and he returned the gesture almost in sync.

'_Great. Now I think he's cute_' I thought at the end.

I turned to see Vi, who was 'getting sick of us' like she says.

"Oh, my-my, look at the time!" Sarcasm "_We have to go._" Bother.

"Eh, yeah. It is..." He stopped to turn to the clock tower of our neighborhood "Exactly midnight? That's a coincidence."

I turned too, to check by myself. It was 12:00 A.M.

"Coincidences doesn't exist, boy. Again, _we _have to go." She said intensely staring at me.

Vi today was definitely hurried to do absolutely nothing in home, since we usually go to bed later.

"Yes..." I hate when she starts to get this annoying "Thanks again for the ray gu-I mean, Zap! Haha!"

"Don't worry, I was working on that since we met."

Since we met... It looked like it was so long ago that I couldn't remember at that moment...

"I built it the past week, just kidding, Jeanny."

"Hey! Not Jeanny, Jinx!"

"Okay, okay, 'troublemaker'. Vi, Jinx, and... 'Ekko', with two 'K's.

"Well, that isn't a very original one, but you finally picked one, Ekko.

"We have to GO." Vi almost shouted.

"Then, see ya' later."

"Yeah, ehm..."

It's hard to admit it, even after the week with Vi joking on me, but I give him a goodbye kiss on the cheek..., again. And a hug, again. Not pretty sure in which order.

Just to thank for the gift. Kinda...

"...Bye."

Vi finally took me by the shoulder to drag me into the way to the house.

"So..."

'_Oh, no. Here it comes._'

"How's your little Romeo?"

'_For goodness' sake._'

"Shut up! I was just thanking him for the gift."

"Suuuure."

* * *

She woke up with the need to scream, to stop the memory from disappearing, begging to let it stay in this reality, and in this time, but instead she widened her eyes even more, letting one tiny tear fall from her eyes.


	2. The Academy

_"___5:24:42, Friday_"_ I repeated to myself what the digital clock's screen displayed.

_"So... Today's the day.__"_

I approached the window of the apartment where I lived in for maybe too long, and stared at the light of the sun trying to shine through the smog in the sky.

_"___Zaun has its own beauty___"_ I thought "__because_even in one of the almost perpetual nights, the shop's signs are always on, neon light in all the city."_

I sighed and turned away from the view.

_"_Of course, that doesn't mean some of those shops aren't illegal, and the continuous lack of light helps the murderers and thieves hidden in the alleys._"_

I felt the usual anger build up inside me, hating not this town, my town, but the people who make a bad name out of it.

_"_Those... freaking Piltover pigs. We may have been born from the dirty agreements between them and Noxus, but that doesn't give them the right to use us as their dump._"_

The image of the kid dying in the alley was still haunting him. It didn't help the fact he forced himself to rewind too many times, just to reach to the conclusion that, he would never make it in time.

And there it was, Z-Drive in his hip, the place where it has been since that incident in the alley. You could even say Echo developed some kind of paranoia, triggering the device when there was no visible danger, even sleeping with it (which he admited was very uncomfortable), but for him, he was just being careful.

_"_Hopefully... I can change what the world thinks of Zaun._"_

Today, for Echo, was one of the most important days in his life, for what he could remember. A summoner, the guys working in the Academy of War, founders of the League of Legends and the people who ended the Rune Wars...

"_Heh, many___ titles._"_

...Listened to him and for what he thought was a crazy idea: Join the League. He expressed the confusion to him, but he just said "_A lot of people ask everyday to join the League of Legends, therefore, with the amount of Champions joining, and the requests growing, we can't afford to lose time: We test them and let them prove themselfs, then we make our veredict. It's has proved to be the most effective way._"

"Losing time, huh. I have a lifetime of experience in that."

I forced myself out of my recurring negative thoughts and looked at the time.

"5:33:43, still Friday." I said outloud in almost a whisper.

* * *

While I ate breakfast and got dressed, I wondered what was the fastest way to the Academy of War. While I found the embassy in Piltover where I made the quick enquiry rather useful in this situation (it took me 42 minutes to get there), I had no intentions of returning to that place.

"Of course, Zaun doesn't have it's own." I clenched my fist over the spoon feeling powerless "...Anyway, I need to present myself in the main facility so everything else is out of question."

I cleaned everything that was left and headed towards the door.

"You're going to change that, Ekko." I stopped at the mirror and looked at my reflection. "For him. ...For her. For them."

The entirety of the metal sounds from the apartment's door and the steps of the (also made of metal) building helped me to sweep out that image of Jean's horror face, mirroring Ajuna's...

"Shit." I spat "Can't have a goddamn day without torturing myself about... everything."

I opened the front door and looked at nothing in particular, not noticing the carriage in the street.

"If only she didn't... If Violet-"

"Mister Ekko."

"Huh?"

In front of me there was an average sized man in a purple cloak, in front of a carriage.  
For the magic-y look of the guy and the Demacian transport design, also present in the embassy I visited, he must be a Summoner.

"_Did he call me 'Mister'?_"

"Uh, yes, that's me. I guess you're from the League?"

"Exactly. If you could-"

"How did you know where I lived?"

"The League keeps record of any person that represents a threat to Runaterra."

"_What...? Threat? How I-?_"

"Now, I was given the task of escorting you to the Academy, if you could enter." He said opening the door of the carriage.

I gulped, my mind rushing into one thousand different conclusions, while I walked into my seat.  
Oddly enough "_Or not oddly enough?_", there wasn't a driver, neither horses or whatever force that would be able to make the wheels move. So it was actioned by magic. Runic magic.

"_This guys are one of the few people, if not the only group able to make use of Runic magic, so powerful that makes my Hextech inventions look like a toy, and they consider me a threat?!_"

With me already inside, the man closed the door, and his footsteps could be heard.

"Should I feel in danger?" I instintively reached for Z-Drive, and pondered pulling the chain. "I..."

The sound of the door at the other side opening startled me, and my anxiousness finally pulled the chain, activating my time-checkpoint.

The man had noticed my action, and just softly smiled as he took a seat at my side.

"We aren't going to do anything to you, you know?" He said nonchalantly "At least not me. I don't have that decision. And sorry if my previous statement disturbed you." He made a motion with his hand and the carriage began to move "While the League keep track of every 'threat', that doesn't mean we have a hitman in every corner waiting for our instructions. We are more like data hoarders, we... seek protection."

"_Of what?_" I thought.

He looked distant for an instant, and then turned at me, as if analysing whether I was worthy of the information he just gave me.

"Are you familiar with the Runic Wars?"

I blinked. "_This guy must think I'm a clueless kid._"

"The very reason why you exist." He looked surprised for a moment, and I took my chance "Sorry for my reaction. I am aware what is the League's purpose, but... I can't picture myself being something the League should be worried of."

"Again, it isn't a matter of worryness, we just know what you are capable of, even if you aren't, and know what to do if Runaterra sees itself in danger."

"_Runaterra...? Geez. I can rewind time, not control goverments and begin wars... I wish I had that power. They have godlike creatures under their supervision, man! And I'm capable of, what?_"

"It isn't entirely about the power, also." I wonder if he is able to read my mind, or just have had this conversation too many times, with too many different people "The potential of some people is... Shurima's history, for example."

Seeing my confused face, he kindly smiled.

"You should look it up when given the opotunity. And you're just heading to the biggest library in the continent."

I was going to ask him if he knew Shurima's history, but he probably did, so I remained silent.

"Data hoarders, mister Ekko. We seek Runaterra's protection."

"_I still don't like how 'Mister' sounds._"

I looked in front of me, and noticed that the window was covered by some courtains. In fact, any view to outside was covered.

"The Academy of War is remarkably far for here. We use our abilities to reach there in much easier ways, but..."

"You can't let the others see it."

"Exactly."

Not too much time passed until the man opened the cortains, and revealed the view of a seriously big ancient looking building.

"That must be it." I said.

"Indeed."

The place was sort of a temple, with white gigantic (probably marmol) pilars holding the roof, leaving an amplious amount of space in the inside, extending to each side, at least a dozen of kilometers away.  
For the sourroundings, sand filled the rest of the picture. It was desert whethever you looked, except for the Academy.

"_Shurima's desert?_" I wondered.

"We have arrived." I turned at the man who was already leaving the vehicle.

I blinked and looked at my watch, which told me it took us less than 13 minutes to arrive from Zaun to whoknows where.

"Magic." I said outloud, mimicking the Summoner's actions.

"Please follow me." He said, once next to me.

We used the only and one of the most pretentious collection of stairs I've ever seen. White as the pillars and walls of the building, they made an outstanding circle, clearly indicating that, in fact, you enter this way.  
The inside didn't dissapoint either. The same style could be seen, the same pillars from outside being inside, but, tha place was practically a small city. I couldn't catch the entirety of the complex with just one glance even if I wanted to. Smaller buildings made their way in the inside, hiding what was beside them.  
And that was just the main view of the center. On the left and right, the process repeated itself.  
Markets, dorms, shops, pubs, even a gym... This was a self-sustained city, or town.

I stopped my tourist sight-seeing and continue to follow my escort, through a regular sized plaza, and finally a little cubicle on the right.  
He pointed at it before saying: 'There'

"The others are waiting for you." He explained.

"You mean... the test?"

He nodded.

He wished me good luck, then left.

"_'The others'. Huh, they sure talk like a giant cult. In a good way, I guess._" I thought while opening the white door.

* * *

I left the room even more confused, or rather with more questions, that grew into frustration.

"They said they would call me later..." I mumbled to myself "But I can't leave the Academy, so they told me to walk around..."

"_But this place is **fucking** huge._"

"How are they gonna find me?"

I reluctantly remembered my conversation with the summoner on our way here, and how mostly everything he said was off-putting, weird, and overall strange.

"Magic..." I sighed.

I started to slowly walk around the plaza I just passed before taking the 'test'.

"And there's the test. They just... asked for whatever thing I could do. No, what word did they used? My 'abilities'. Geez, how dramatic that sounds..."

Obviously, I showed them Z-Drive, but they asked for more things,

"Like timey-wimey stuff didn't quite leave the impression already... Seriously though, why? The only thing I had in hand was the failed-time-capsule bomb, and the actual time capsule, what if I didn't have anything else? And then they go and say 'that's all'."

I became aware of my public rant, and decided to stop talking, or better yet, thinking, for the rest of the walk.

Suddenly I came towards a lonely bench, underneath the shadow of a nice tree behind it.  
I approached and laid down in it.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it too much." I whispered while closing my eyes, in a desperate attempt to shut down the logic part of my brain.

"Anyway, better stay in one place so they can find me more easily." Was the last thing I thought before I tried, and failed, to take a nap

**Author's Note:**

Hiya.  
Sorry for the delay, I'm currently working on another LoL fic on my spare time. Luckily the history for this is already 'done', for I have rewritten this maybe too many times over too many years. In fact, Ekko's test was originally to be narrated, but I felt it was just a boring showcase of his in-game abilities, so better leave it there and move into other things.  
The Academy of War is, in fact, huge. I'm going to go deeper into this and the League later, because it's actually part of the plot.  
Reviews help! Expect more jumps between Jinx's flashbacks and Ekko's present. Also Vi, eventually...  
Until next chapter.


	3. Reunion

_"Great..._

_I don't think- well, who am I fooling, I know exactly how much time I've wasted just laying here._

_I they haven't contacted me! What am I supposed to expect? Some another summoner is going to pick me up, another Champion, psychic message? Well, maybe the last one was a bit to much..."_

''I can't sleep." I sighed, refusing to open my eyes. I arrived at the bench with the intention of 'relaxing', but after 13 minutes and 46 seconds I finally gave up-

''Well, duh, you're laying in a bench.''

My eyes shot open and I quickly stood up.

''I mean, we kinda used to do that, but that doesn't mean it gets any better.''

Frantically looking around, I tried to find the voice that directly responded my thoughts.

''Sleeping in uncomfortable places, I mean.''

_"Where...?"_

"Up here!"

I looked up-

''Hop!''

-but instead saw the tree above where I was laying down earlier, a trail of blue hair rushing away from the branch right above of it.

"Now I'm down here!"

This time I could identify where the sound was coming from, and quickly turned around, somehow afraid I wouldn't be able to properly see the voice's owner.

Instead I found a hand extended to me.

"Hello!"

I deviated my gaze off the hand and analysed the looks of the... girl, in front of me.

The hand retreated and I could get a full view of her:

One part of her body was covered in this pattern of clouds and bullets, and her skin, which was really pale, made a great contrast with the tattoo.

She wore jean shorts and a pair of stockings. Boots, and just... a bra. Or at least that seemed.

She had this whole punk vibe that-

"Hey!" She snapped her fingers to gain my attention.

"You just scanned me..."

"Oh, err, sorry."

That's when I finally looked at her eyes. They were this... scarlet, vibrant scarlet, almost red, with a little white.

_"Like taking the best of both colors, so you end up with this sweet shade of pink..."_

"...That showed up how harsh like red, but soft like white she could be."

"Um... what?"

I snapped at the movement of her eyes.

"D-Did I said that out loud?"

The blue ponytails jumped with her snort.

"Heh, sure you did, kid."

There was no mistake...

"Jean?"

Her eyes got wide, and I could swear she looked like she was going to cry for a split second, before she casually bumped me in the shoulder with her fist.

"S-Sure I knew you from somewhere."

"Somewhere...? Jean, we-"

"Please don't say that." she said with a calm smile. "I-I've told you, right? It's Jinx."

"...What? Excuse me?! I haven't seen you in **six** years and you want me to-!"

She stopped my rambling putting her hand over my mouth, before gently saying:

"Just... follow me, please."

She waited until my face showed something else other than anger and confusion, and hurriedly left the place, followed by me.

I didn't know where she was leading me to, but it was _her_. It was really her.

We didn't walk to much until we arrived to another plaza. But this one was surrounded by what seemed houses. Or rather departments. The design confused me.

What caught my attention was the giant clock tower, similar to the one back in Zaun, close to... their house.

_"I didn't even think she was..."_

I looked up and noticed we were walking far away each other. I sped up my pace trying to catch her.

_"When I mentioned her name earlier, her expression changed to this sort of panic. And even when she asked me to follow her, her eyes showed this amount of different emotions..."_

"After you." She said, gesturing towards an open elevator.

We were behind the clock tower, in front of what seemed the tower's elevator itself.

"Yeah..." I entered, and she followed, closing the metal fence and pushing the second button of the only two buttons the elevator's panel had.

The machine started moving and I felt a little sad that the open side of the elevator only faced the departments behind the clock tower. I turned and noticed the other side was just solid brick.

In the motion, I glanced at her.

She was looking forward, and didn't exchange a word with me, like in the whole walk to here. At least she looked more calm now. Because we are alone?

_"That's why she didn't want me to call her 'Jean'? Because we were in public?"_

She suddenly turned and faced the wall. Unsure, I did the same.

_"What does that even mean?!"_

Finally, the elevator stopped in front of another door. But this looked more home-y, for this was painted white, and clearly made out of wood.

She opened the fence facing the door without hesitation and unlocked the white entrance.

I stood there for a couple seconds before realizing it was better to enter.

"So..." I asked nervously "This is your house?"

The walls, like the main door, were white, but they were painted in various creatives ways with spray.

"Yeah... You could say that." She answered in almost a whisper.

We continued down the hallway and passed a bedroom at the left and what looked like a kitchen at the right, and the paintings continued, now more coherent and more like drawings than random sketches. In one of the drawings at the left, she stopped.

I looked at her confused, and then followed her gaze towards the drawing. It resembled me.

_"When... I was a kid. And there's her. And... Vi, too."_

"Echo."

"Huh?"

"You're name is Echo, right?"

_"What...?"_

"Jean, what are-?"

"Just answer me!" She screamed.

Her attitude startled me.

"Just... I know I've changed. And I know he has probably changed. But..."

She turned towards me, tears rolling down her face.

"Nobody called me like that, except him."

I was confused, but didn't want her to be like this.

"Yes, Jean, it's... me, Echo."

She whispered an 'oh god', before tripping towards me in a desperate hug.

"Jean, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not!" And continued crying "I thought I lost you... I..."

She hugged even harder with the fear I would disappear, and I became aware that, in fact, I should be in the same position as her, so I embraced her back.

"When... That day... Echo, please forgive me, forgive me please!"

"Jean, stop screaming! It's okay, I-I forgive you." I wasn't really sure what was I supposed to forgive her for.

"The accident, I was, I was just scared, so scared..."

Her voice started to sound distant, while I remembered what I...

_"Being fair, I should have remembered from the very beginning, right? The accident... She was gone the next morning. She never returned, and for a while a tried to find her, but after some time..."_

"I just forgot you." I whispered.

Jinx stopped talking, and looked up at me, still in my arms.

"...What?"

"I tried to forget you. And after a while, the nightmares were gone, but..."

She brushed off the tears from her face qith tbe back of her palm before saying:

"...But?"

"But I couldn't. I guess I just..." I remembered the kiss earlier "Look, I haven't seen you in a lot of time, and I..."

"I what, Ekko?" She sounded irritated at this point.

"I'm confused! Okay?! Where were you? Why did you left? What have you done this whole time? And there you go and, kiss me, like there wasn't this giant time gap since we last saw each other! Aren't you worried if I have changed? ...Have you changed?"

She went from surprised, to guilty, to ofended through my whole speech, to finalle answer with some determination.

"I left because I was scared, I already told you." she looked down "Sorry it had to be with that emotional outburst but," she regained her composture and looked up once more "you have to understand what it was like to-"

"No, Jean, I don't understand. I literally don't understand because I thought you were _fucking_ dead!"

"...Okay. You're right, I'm sorry. It's just... my mind is fuzzy right now."

She sighed, before continuing.

"After the job didn't go well, after the _explosion_... That night, I couldn't sleep. I just couldn't. I mean, I lost the only family I had because I messed up! How stupid is that?" she bitterly chuckled "I thought Violet was dead..."

_"She never uses her full name... Wait."_

"You _thought_?"

"Yes, that's what I said. After I ran away, I decided to leave Zaun, to escape. And don't think I forgot about our promise!" she said in a stern but yet jokingly voice before smiling softly "That's why the kiss... Anyway, I ended up in Piltover. Yes, I know, you don't have to make that face. It was the closest place where I could... start all over again. I wanted to forget everything, too, but unlike you, the nightmares never stopped."

Her face grew somber for a moment

"So I became Jinx. That was me, the 'new' me. Some crazy girl who lived for chaos."

"You mean you." she gave me a stare

_"Oh. I didn't know I actually missed those."_"Okay, sorry. Continue."

"I mean _literally_ became Jinx. Like some kind of twisted second personality. I thought I could move on, that way. But... then she showed up."

I just widened me eyes, already knowing who she was refering to.

"She was alive. And, unlike what you could say about me or even yourself, she looked the same, just older. I think the only difference was this new tattoo on her cheek." she laughed.

"But..."

Her expression returned to the previous sadness, and she finished explaining:

"Vi didn't remember me. I hardly think she remembers everything. I don't know what happened or how she survived, but she got this kind of amnesia. I mean, it's hard to talk to somebody properly when she's trying to arrest you, but," I decides to ignore that part, and ask later "even here, she doesn't reacts to the name 'Jean'. Now the closest thing I have with her is this relationship through Jinx. She only knows me through Jinx, and actually, I'm fine with that. I'm used to that."

She sighed.

"That's why I signed up in this place. Someday she and Fancy Hat just stopped showing up, and with some gossip, I learned they were accepted in this horrible place. And so I tried to enter to."

"'Horrible place'?

She continued, ignoring my question.

"Long story short. I tried to run from the past and when the past found me, I desesperately went after it."

There was a long pause, filled with thoughtful silence, with only the two of us looking at each other, and I couldn't help but see in those eyes the same girl that I stupidly adored (not so) long ago.

"What 'you thinking?"

"Umm... kinda processing all of this."

"Yeah, I can tell."

She went silent for another long moment, and looked like having some inner argument. She said:

"Echo, are you sure you want to stay here?"

"What are you saying?"

"Are you really sure you want to enter the league?"

"Well, yes. I mean, knowing that you are here, now... Why didn't you try to find me?"

She went silent again.

"Jean?"

"Do you want to see her?"

"Who?"

"I... I guess so."

"Great!" She said, regaining what I guess was here everyday act. This false... her. It unssetled me, but decided to give more thought to everything she just said.

_"Maybe the walk will be more calming."_

I thought while Jean pulled me out of the apartment.

_"...Yeah, right. Seeing ghosts is _always_ calming."_

* * *

Author's Note:  
SO! I kinda like how this one turned out, even if it started with a rather too fast pace. Or maybe it's just me.  
I tried to this kind of slow reveal from the viewers perspective sort of thing, hope I did it well. And, don't worry, the day of the accident will have it's own chapter so everything's clear.  
Anyway, forgive my terribly uneven upload schedule and, see you next chapter! I hope...


End file.
